Land Theft/Destruction
OPT: Security forces demolish house of family of perpetrator of attack in Jerusalem
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SODA-7R6RU3?OpenDocument&RS...

Attacks/Aggression    
Palestinian killed by Israeli guard of an Israeli settlement in Hebron
Hebron, April 17, 2009 (Ramattan) - The Israeli army shot and killed on Friday morning a Palestinian near an Israeli settlement in West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinian security sources said.
http://english.ramattan.net/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=40227

Infant succumbs to wounds sustained during latest Israeli strike on Gaza
Gaza - Ma'an - An infant from Gaza City seriously injured in Israel's latest airstrike on the Strip Wednesday night succumbed to his injuries overnight.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37171
One killed, dozens injured at the Bil'in weekly protest
A Palestinian man was killed and dozens more injured on Friday during the weekly nonviolent protest in Bil'in village, near the central west Bank city of Ramallah.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60009
Basim al Khatib, 30 killed in anti-wall nonviolent protest in Bili'n Friday
A Palestinian nonviolent protestor was killed during the weekly anti-wall nonviolent protest in the West Bank village of Bili'n Friday afternoon.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60006
List of others killed protesting the theft of their land in Bil'in
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/04/6185
Ten injured at weekly non-violent protest in Nil'in
Scores of villagers from Nil'in, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, along with their international supporters held their weekly protest on Friday midday against the illegal Israeli wall being built on village land.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60010

Israeli army opens fire at int'l pacifists' rally northern Gaza, no injuries
Gaza, April 17, 2009 (Ramattan) - The Israeli army opened fire on Friday towards a rally of international pacifists in supporting for the Palestinian farmers north of Gaza, Ramattan reporter said.
http://english.ramattan.net/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=40228

Israeli troops fire on Beit Hanoun NGO workers, farmers
Gaza - Ma'an - Israeli forces opened fire on members of an international solidarity NGO in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun Friday morning.  The NGO, called Local Initiative, sent members on a mission to observe and assist a wheat harvest in the northern Gaza Strip. When they neared the wheat fields abutting the border fence Israeli troops opened fire.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37177
Israeli air strike destroys Gaza home, no injuries
GAZA, April 16 (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike destroyed a house in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Thursday, the first such attack on the Palestinian enclave in over a month, the Israeli army and residents said. No one was injured in the blast. Hamas officials said the house, located near the border fence with Israel, was empty at the time.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LG5012122.htm

Az-Za'arir: Hamas men shot three Fatah members in the legs in Jabaliya
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Unidentified gunmen affiliated with Hamas fired at three members of their rival Fatah party in the Jabaliya area of the northern Strip Thursday night, a Fatah spokesman said.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37173
Detentions
IOF detains 5 Palestinians in West Bank
Ramallah, April 17, 2009 (Ramattan) - The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) detained on Friday morning five Palestinian citizens in the West Bank cities of Bethlehem, Jenin and Ramallah, Palestinian security sources said.
http://english.ramattan.net/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=40225

Woman Recalls "Horrific" Israeli Detention
"They wanted to break our will and destroy our dignity. But, of course, we are stronger than all their virulent tactics," Sherine told IOL.  RAMALLAH - A Palestinian women freed this weeks after six years in detention on charges of resisting the Israeli military occupation is speaking out against "horrific mistreatment" and "hair-raising episodes" in Israeli jails.  "They beat us, they kicked us, they humiliated us. They treated us as if we were animals," Sherine Sheikh Khalil, 24, told IslamOnline.net in an exclusive interview.  "It is really difficult to  communicate to you the bestiality and savagery of their behavior," added the young activist from the central Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=12377062161...

De facto security threatens to stop Prisoners Day rally
Gaza - Ma'an - De facto Palestinian security officials are planning to stop a prisoner solidarity rally on the eve of Prisoners Day, according to the National Action Committee.  It was not immediately clear why the de facto government would want to shut down the rally, which is intended to bring awareness to the issue of over 10,000 Palestinian prisoners who remain in Israeli jails.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37162

Palestinians mark Prisoners Day across West Bank, Gaza
Palestine - Ma'an - Masses gathered in Gaza City, Bethlehem, Ramallah and other Palestinian cities to pay tribute to their friends, family members and peers locked in Israeli prisons on Friday.  Prisoners Day was marked by marches, calls to action and moments of silence as communities took time to remember and honor Palestinians in Israeli custody.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37182

Eyewitness Accounts/Testimonials
Norwegian doctor's presentation on Gaza attack leaves Chicago audience 'shell shocked'
Reader Rie Graham as sent us this report from Dr. Mads Gilbert's presentation in Chicago last night. The Norwegian physician is touring the US talking about his experience working in Gaza's al-Shifa hospital during the war this past December and January. Graham writes: I was a bit nervous ten minutes before the program was to start and only 20 people were seated in the cavernous Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago. Perhaps people really have forgotten Gaza. Maybe they don't want to be reminded that for 23 days, Israel carried out a planned, brutal assault that flattened buildings and shattered lives. Maybe they don't want to hear from someone who spent two weeks in Gaza elbow deep in blood, repairing small bodies and comforting weeping relatives. Maybe people have moved on - eager for a new diplomatic initiative or perhaps onto the next tragedy - Afghanistan and Pakistan where the blood seems more fresh. Maybe they are more interested in the work of pirates rather than those who use governmental power to attack civilians and then continue to hold them under siege so reconstruction efforts are hampered.
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/04/chicago-audience-shell-sho...

Ayman Quader - The Ideal Israeli Solider, Killer and Thief
(In the photo at the left: same story over and over again, in Hebron as in Gaza, IDF soldiers do not respect the homes of Palestinians.) The old man sat in the light of a kerosene lamp and looked bleakly ahead. His wife sat in the opposite corner, crying loudly "They soiled our sheets, haram, haram, they broke our bed, fired guns in our bed and," the old man said, "they took all our money. The day after we left we found a 100 shekel note in the garden, that's all."
http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/04/17/ayman-quader-the-ideal-israeli-...

War Crimes/Criminals
The Dead in the course of the Israeli recent military offensive on the Gaza strip between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009
http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/list.pdf
Court: Dichter cannot be sued in U.S. over 2002 Gaza bombing
A New York federal appeals court said on Thursday that former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter cannot be sued in the United States for 15 deaths in a Gaza City bombing.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078829.html
Humanitarian Issues
OPT: Protection of civilians weekly report, 08 - 14 Apr 2009
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EDIS-7R6RGA?OpenDocument&RS...

PCHR Weekly Report: 3 Palestinians injured, 23 abducted this week
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, during the week of 09 - 16 April 2009, 3 Palestinian civilians were wounded by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank. Israeli forces abducted 23 Palestinians, including 3 children. 18 were abducted during military invasions in the West Bank, and 5 were abducted at Israeli checkpoints within the West Bank.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60000

Gaza: One crossing partially open; no fuel for fourth day
Gaza - Ma'an - One Gaza Strip crossing was partially opened Friday following a week of periodic closures and scarce aid and commercial supplies.  The Kerem Shalom access point will allow 70-80 truckloads of goods to enter Gaza, crossing official Raed Fattuh said Friday morning.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37180
Israel turns back 250 tons of truckloads of food
Israeli troops manning the land Al-Ojah checkpoint in Central Sinai sent back 13 truckloads of 250 tons of flour dispatched by the Egyptian Red Crescent to Gaza Strip on Thursday.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=199...

Conflict & siege threaten Gaza's young minds, claims new World Vision report
World Vision says in a report 'Why did you let me get hurt' released today, that the recent conflict in Gaza has compounded the psychosocial suffering of children caused by more than 22 months of siege and ongoing insecurity. Research conducted by World Vision over a number of years has shown ongoing threats to the psychosocial wellbeing of children.  A prior study commissioned by the organisation found that more than a quarter of children interviewed exhibited serious psychological reactions as a result of their exposure to past violence, and more than two-thirds exhibited reactions in the mild to moderate range.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/wvmeero/a0dd3581062fbfb1854...

Palestinians outside camps don't have even hope to sustain them
Sitting on a plastic chair under the leaky sheet-metal roof of his family home, 18-year-old Hussein Mukahal is talking about his future. He's a tall, thin boy who smiles when he talks of his ambitions and is unfailingly polite, offering glasses of fruit juice as he speaks. "I want to be an engineer," he says.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_...
Gaza patients protest as death chasing them
Gaza City, April 16th, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - Dozens of Palestinian patients who need urgent medical treatment demonstrated Thursday before the closed Rafah border crossing between Gaza Strip and Egypt.  The Palestinian patients and dozens of ambulances gathered near the gate of the crossing calling on the Egyptian authorities to reopen the crossing which has been closed for more than two months.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id...

Greek Government contributes USD 4.5 million for UNRWA's health and education services in Gaza and Syria
Jerusalem, 7 April 2009 - The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced a contribution of US$ 4 million for UNRWA's Quick Response Plan for Gaza (QRP). This generous contribution represents a significant increase in funding to the Agency by the Government of Greece and is earmarked for the construction and equipping of a new Health Centre in Rafah as well as an Elementary Co-Educational School in Beit Hanoun area.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-7R6PZ3?OpenDocument&RS...

International NGOs in Gaza slam governments for "lip service" policy three months after war
Jerusalem - Ma'an - Twenty-three high-profile international NGOs accused much of the world of "standing by" as "Gazans sift through the rubble," noting that thousands "are still homeless and without basic services such as piped drinking water three months after the 18 January ceasefire."  Released three months after the end of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, the statement, signed by CARE, Oxfam, Defense for Children International and more than a dozen other organizations, the statement offered scathing criticism to the international community.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37178
Collaborators
Rights groups: PLO bowed to US boycott over UN racism conference
Bethlehem - Ma'an - A UN-sponsored racism conference will begin Monday, but the plight of the Palestinians will not be on the agenda, partly because Palestine's own diplomats have buckled to US pressure, civil society organizations have alleged.  The Draft Outcome Document of the Durban Review Conference - to be held in Geneva, Switzerland - contains no reference to the Palestinians, Palestine, or to Israel or its occupation of Palestinian land. All such references were removed by a Preparatory Committee from an earlier draft in March.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37165
PA officials scandalized at disclosure by Abbas's son of vast personal fortune
Yasser Abbas, the son of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, revealed this week that he's a self-made millionaire who started his own business shortly after the signing of the Oslo Accords.  In an interview with the Dubai-based Al-Aswak.net economic magazine, Abbas's son, who was named after former PA leader Yasser Arafat, also declared that "a majority of Palestinians," including himself, "collaborate with Israel."  Yasser Abbas's remarks raised many eyebrows in Ramallah, where one PA official described the interview as "scandalous and harmful."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710711339&pagename=JPost%...

Suleiman to meet Lieberman during visit to Israel
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth reported on Friday that Egypt's Intelligence Chief, Omar Suleiman, will be holding a meeting with the new Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, during his visit to Israel next Wednesday.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60002

Egypt Trying to Find Balance Through Anti-Lieberman Stance
The Egyptian regime is embarrassed by Israel's recent remarks that it provided Cairo with intelligence about the so called "Hezbollah network" in Egypt. Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit has been seeking to establish a sort of balance in the Egyptian stance regarding the assault on Hezbollah and cut the road for any Egyptian and Arab public speculation that would put his country under suspicion of collusion with Israel. According to Israeli analysts and commentators, Abul Gheit's window was his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman whom he declared persona non grata in Egypt.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=82121&language=en

Egypt detains 17 members of Muslim Brotherhood
Egyptian police detained 17 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's most powerful opposition group, in dawn raids on their homes in Fayyoum province south east of Cairo, the group said on Thursday. A security source confirmed the detentions.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article...

Authorities arrest third suspect on suspicion of spying for Israel
BEIRUT: A third member of a "professional and well-trained network" was arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel, media reports said Thursday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_...

Report: Hizbullah helped bust Lebanese spies
Lebanese daily says two cells accused of spying for Israel captured so far - one by Lebanon's internal security service, other by Hizbullah. Report says suspects used special equipment given by Israeli intelligence to mark military, civilian targets struck during Second Lebanon War.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3702527,00.html

Hezbollah, ISF Cooperating to Nab Israeli Spy Cells
Lebanese daily al-Akhbar reported on Friday reported that two espionage cells operated by Israeli intelligence services in Lebanon have been dismantled.   According to the report, the arrests were carried out following coordination between Lebanon's internal security service and Hezbollah, with each party responsible for the arrest of one cell.   The capture of the first cell that was reported on Tuesday was made by the internal security forces (ISF). Senior reserve officer Adib A., who headed the cell, was arrested along with his wife. Later on, the main suspect's nephew Joseph A. was also arrested. Adib and Joseph both worked with the General Security apparatus.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=82148&language=en

Political Developments
Al Masry: Swap-talks did not stop, resistance demands did not, and will not, change
Palestinian legislator of the Hamas legislative bloc, Moshir Al Masry, stated on Thursday that Egyptian-mediated indirect prisoner-swap talks with Israel did not stop and that the conditions of the resistance did not and will not change.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59997
'Pressure Israel, or peace process will be a joke'
Palestinians determined US special envoy Mitchell must push Israel to adhere to two-state solution. 'We want the Americans to guarantee a genuine political process that will lead towards a permanent agreement,' Palestinian Authority official tells Ynet.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3702385,00.html
Is Obama turning up the pressure on Israel?, Walt by Stephen M. Walt
A report in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth is getting a lot of play today. It says the Obama administration is dead serious about a two-state solution, and that it is "sharpening its tone" in addressing the Netanyahu government. In particular, the United States has reportedly told Israel that "any treatment of the Iranian nuclear problem will be contingent upon progress in the negotiations and an Israeli withdrawal from West Bank territory." The Netanyahu government is said to have "agreed to show a united front that the route to reaching a solution would be the road map, and would clarify that Israeli flexibility on the Palestinian issue would be contingent upon the American approach toward resolving the Iranian threat, as well as its attitude towards Hamas and Hizbullah."
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/04/16/obama_turning_up_the_pres...
Report: Obama will impose two-state solution
An important report (by MJ Rosenberg, picking up Yedioth Ahronoth in Israel) that Obama intends to implement a two-state solution on the Israelis come what may over the next four years--that means the famous imposed solution, in my book-- and that the president has dissed Netanyahu, saying he won't meet with him in early May, leading Netanyahu to want to cancel an appearance at AIPAC lest he display his lack of access for all to see.  The report quotes Rahm Emanuel saying to an unnamed Israeli source:  "In the next four years there is going to be a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn't matter to us at all who is prime minister."  And yes, the price of this two-state solution, the report suggests, is that Obama will then be sympathetic to Israel re Iran.
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/04/report-obama-will-impose-t...

Plan for Palestinian state is 'dead end,' Israel tells U.S.
Yossi Alpher, a former official with Israel's Mossad spy agency and a co-founder of the bitterlemons.org Middle East political Web site, said that Netanyahu's conditions could be a poison pill that prevents any peace talks from getting under way."The position he took today cannot in any way generate a peace process," Alpher said. "The Palestinians are not going to offer him this recognition. It could be a deal-breaker, but it could be an opening gambit. It's too early in this whole new process to tell."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/66360.html

US-Israeli Differences Over Palestinians Emerge
JERUSALEM - Stark differences between U.S. and Israeli policy toward peace talks with the Palestinians emerged clearly Thursday in the first meetings between President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy and top leaders of the new Israeli government.  The envoy, George Mitchell, emphasized that Washington is aiming for creation of a Palestinian state. But Israelis avoided mention of Palestinian statehood, and the new foreign minister said past Israeli concessions have led to violence, not peace.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/usisraeli-differences-ove_n_187...
Netanyahu: We won't accept another Hamastan
Prime minister meets with visiting US special envoy George Mitchell, says Israel has no desire to rule the Palestinians but must ensure that political process does not result in another Hamas-controlled entity that could threaten Jerusalem.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3702355,00.html
Netanyahu demands Palestinians recognize 'Jewish state'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting U.S. envoy George Mitchell on Thursday that his government would condition talks over Palestinian statehood on the Palestinians first recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078827.html
Other News
French Court to Hear Israeli Tram Case
A Franco-Palestinian human-rights association challenged the companies' participation, arguing that the line is designed to consolidate Israeli control over Arab districts seized after the Six-Day War in 1967. Most Israelis regard East Jerusalem as part of Israel's undivided capital.The group, Association France-Palestine Solidarité, filed the complaint against Alstom SA and Veolia Environnement SA two years ago, arguing that the 8.3-mile project violates international law because East Jerusalem isn't sovereign Israeli territory. About half of the line is already built.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992141785126493.html
Israeli police violate own ban, pray near Al-Aqsa Mosque
Jerusalem - Ma'an - Israeli police officers in charge of preventing extremist settlers from performing religious rituals near the Al-Aqsa Mosque were seen praying there on Thursday.  Settlers had earlier been prevented by Jerusalem police from reaching Lion's Gate near Al-Aqsa on Thursday, yet the police themselves were later seen praying there.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=37166
'Israel could have made peace with Hamas under Yassin'
"We turned Kuntar into God-knows-what - the murderer of Danny Haran and his daughter, Einat. The man who smashed in the girl's head. That's nonsense. A story. A fairy tale. He told me he didn't do it and I believe him. I investigated the event within the framework of the next book I am writing, about hostage-taking incidents. As far as I am concerned, it was no more than a newspaper report. I sat with him; he was very intelligent. He was a squad commander at 17. He told me that his motive for infiltrating Nahariya was to take hostages. He said [his organization] knew that would both humiliate Israel and get them media publicity.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=1...
Egypt versus Hizbullah: "They really don't like each other"
This blaze of Egyptian accusations underlines the frustration felt by the government of President Hosni Mubarak, which has borne withering opprobrium due to its refusal to open crossings into Gaza to relieve the besieged Palestinian territory. Egypt's discomfort peaked during Israel's 22-day assault on Hamas in Gaza earlier this year, when Hizbullah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, charged Mr Mubarak with complicity with the "Zionist regime" and dramatically called on Egyptian officers to save their country's honour. Egypt has remained isolated in Arab public opinion as Mr Mubarak has subsequently cracked down on cross-border smuggling and struggled to strong-arm Hamas into sharing power with its secular rival, Fatah, by using the opening of the border as a lure.
http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=...
Egypt, Hezbollah in talks to smooth recent tensions
Egypt's ambassador to Lebanon has met with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman to convey Egypt's demands of Hezbollah. The Egyptian government is also demanding information on anyone who has been involved in covert Hezbollah activity on Egyptian soil, whether or not they are Lebanese. Egypt wants such Hezbollah operatives to go on trial, though not necessarily in Egypt.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078887.html

Dutch consumer group: Jewish leadership 'abusing' postal system
A Dutch consumer rights group promoting a ban on Israeli goods is planning to take legal action against one of the Netherland's largest Jewish institutions for alleged "abuse" of the postal system. The Jewish group denies foul play.  Peace, which is advocating a boycott of Israeli goods from the West Bank, says the umbrella group for the Jewish Orthodox communities in the Netherlands, NIK, deliberately caused it losses of thousands of euros.  Peace argues that NIK did this by using its Web site to encourage people to send thousands of Peace's prepaid envelopes through a mailing service that allows anyone to send mail to certain organizations at no charge, since the organizations pay the postal fees after delivery.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078875.html
Anti-Solidarity/Pro-apartheid
Israel's Supreme Court President speaks at Princeton
Israel's top judicial official said the goal of her country's Supreme Court is to respect human rights while maintaining security during "a permanent state of emergency."
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10304926.html
Analysis/Op-ed
Remember Qana...Israel's Turning Point?
They could have been fathers and mothers today telling their children the stories of what's right and what's wrong. They could have been grandmothers and grandfathers.  They could have been vivid young men and young women working on their future.  106 people could have been anything other than mere remains and anyplace other than under the ground of Qana.   13 years ago, Qana was the scene of an obscene massacre caused by one of Israel's "Grapes of Wrath."
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=82135&language=en

Law and Justice First, Mr. Mitchell
So they sent you to the Holy Land, Mr. Mitchell, for talks. So many before you have gone to talk. They failed because polite talk isn't enough.  What will you say about the subjugation of Palestine's people and Israel's defilement of this once-lovely place? How will you answer charges that your county is godfather, bankroller, arms supplier and good buddy to the racist thieves and colonizers that have turned it into a powder-keg?
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15022
Viewpoint: A step toward ending Israel's impunity, By George Bisharat
The appointment of Richard Goldstone to head a United Nations fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip represents an important first step toward ending Israel's impunity from international law. Mr. Goldstone - a former supreme court justice in South Africa and chief prosecutor in the international tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia - and three other esteemed experts will investigate both Israel and Hamas for possible offenses before, during, and after Israel's invasion of Gaza.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.viewpoint16apr16,0,...
Obama Needs to Turn Up the Heat, By George S. Hishmeh
US President Barack Obama's maiden venture into foreign policy earlier this month earned him high marks from many, but also ruffled the feathers of icons of the American neoconservative movement, which had its heyday during the just-concluded tenure of George W. Bush.  Wherever he went on his first visit overseas, he chose to knock on doors gently and warmly, particularly in Turkey, where he declared that the United States is not at war with the Muslim world.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15023
Lieberman and the Peace Process
Hours after his handover ceremony, the new Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the Ha'aretz newspaper that "Israel is not bound by the Annapolis process", the US-backed declaration that initiated the final status talks on establishing a Palestinian state. Instead, Lieberman wants to revert to the situation in 2003, when the Middle East "Quartet" (the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia) introduced the "road map" for peace, essentially eliminating progress made during year-long intensive talks with the Palestinians.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15021
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Netanyahu
It is one of the great paradoxes of the modern Middle East:  When peace with the Palestinians is in sight, Israel will turn violent.
This is quite understandable though, when one realizes that the entire raison d'être of the Jewish state is based on the principle of establishing "greater Israel." That could not happen of course, were there to be a just peace. As the country's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion infamously proclaimed, "To maintain the status quo will not do. We have to set up a dynamic state bent upon expansion."
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15025
Advocates of the two-state solution 'resemble a balloon with a slow but accelerating leak'
Two-state doyen Leonard Fein takes stock of the situation in his latest column for the Forward. Fein outlines how he has moved from the liberal edge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to becoming a "hard liner:"
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/04/advocates-of-the-twostate-...

Many official Israeli maps fail to show Occupied Territories
Bruce Wolman has long been interested in the issue we raised earlier today on this site, Israeli maps that fail to show the Occupied Territories as Palestinian lands. He writes:  I was quite amused at the furor Hillary Clinton made about Palestinians not showing Israel on the maps in their schoolbooks. I did a search of official Israeli maps and tourist guidebooks, and lo and behold, what did I find - the same maps as the Palestinians used, except the area was called Israel rather than Palestine. No occupied territories, no disputed territories, just Greater Israel including Judea and Samaria. How does Hillary expect the Palestinians to draw Israel's borders when neither she nor Israel will officially state what Israel's borders are?  When I was in Israel from 1999-2000, none of the tourist maps I was given indicated the territories. But I hadn't checked for awhile, so here is some research I just did: a sampling of Israeli maps on the Web.
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/04/many-official-israeli-maps...

Some Palestinian maps are fairer than Israeli ones
We've gotten several emails about Bruce Wolman's post on his search for an Israeli map showing the Green Line earlier today. One from Lawrence of Cyberia, who writes:  At left is a photo of what the Jerusalem Post shows as "Israel" on its weather map. From this blog in 2005. And just to be mischievous, a picture of Ismail Haniya of Hamas, who apparently knows very well where the Green Line is! (Orig caption: Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh speaks during a rally in Gaza May 11, 2006. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem)
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/04/some-palestinian-maps-are-...

Non-Violence in Palestine: Timing and Intentions
When one speaks of or advocates non-violence, does he promote such an idea because he believes that historically it has been a more effective means of liberation, or is it purely because he thinks that it is a more self-respecting means of struggle?  In recent history, many advocates of non-violence have been celebrated as modern day icons. From Ghandi to King, songs are written in their honor, their life stories fill the pages of our children's history volumes as noble examples of which everyone must aspire to emulate. Holidays are instituted in their honor and around the world; streets and boulevards carry their namesake.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15024
Gaza, three months on, by Helena Cobban
On January 18, Israel and Hamas each separately announced its decision to halt the hostilities they had been engaged in since December 27. That un-negotiated, parallel ceasefire remains fragile and has been far from completely observed. Israel, in particular, has maintained its aggressive presence close by 1.5 million people, surveilling them very closely from ground, sea, and air (including from low-flying drones), and launching numerous attacks against Gazans from all those platforms.
http://justworldnews.org/archives/003517.html
Iraq
‘Terror' attacks killed 7,473 Iraqis in 2008
Violence claimed 7,473 lives in 2008 in Iraq, the year which the government and U.S. occupation forces say was relatively quiet.
The figure, announced by Human Rights Minister Wajdan Salem, does not include Iraqi casualties resulting from U.S. attacks or Iraqi government forces' operations.   U.S. troops do not keep records of Iraqis they kill, whether insurgents or ordinary people. Iraqi forces seem to be following suit.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\ 2009-04-16\kurd.htm
The Weapons That Kill Civilians - Deaths of Children and Noncombatants in Iraq, 2003-2008
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/360/16/1585.pdf
Horror of war at Iraqi morgue even as attacks fall
BAGHDAD, April 16 (Reuters) - Sectarian slayings may have peaked in Iraq three years ago, but at Baghdad's central morgue the horror is still felt as families view seemingly endless pictures of corpses in their search for loved ones.  Relatives of the dead, most of them women and some quietly wiping away tears, sit in a room trying to spot the missing among the photos of men and boys, many mutilated or severely decayed, cycled on a bank of screens.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MWAI-7R74BB?OpenDocument&RS...
Shadowy group threatens to kill gays in Iraq (AFP)
AFP - A shadowy group has posted signs around the Iraqi capital's main Shiite working-class district of Sadr City naming alleged homosexuals on a list and threatening to kill them.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2...

US soldier gets life for murder of bound Iraqis
A US soldier was jailed for life Thursday for the murder of four bound and blindfolded prisoners in Iraq, a court martial here said. US Master Sergeant John E. Hatley was also found guilty Wednesday of conspiracy to kill the unidentified detainees, but was acquitted of a fifth charge of premeditated murder and of obstruction of justice.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article...
Iraq voices: 'It's easy to look OK if you're next to an idiot'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/17/iraq-invasion-factors-expert...

U.S. and other world news
READ THE CIA MEMOS: BUSH AUTHORIZED USE OF INSECTS, 'WALLING'....
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20090416_memos.pdf

Obama shields CIA interrogators from charges
* Bush-era memos concluded waterboarding not torture
* Obama not to prosecute interrogators who used technique
* U.S. to protect interrogators from international charges
* Human rights groups dissatisfied
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16289770.htm

Bush INTERROGATION MEMOS: Obama Releases
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says the release of legal opinions governing harsh questioning of terrorism suspects is required by the law and should help address "a dark and painful chapter in our history."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/bush-interrogation-memos_n_1879...
"Little Guantanamo" - Secretive 'CMU' Prisons Designed to Restrict Communication of Jailed Muslims and Activists With Outside World
With little public scrutiny, the Bush administration opened two secretive prisons in Indiana and Illinois known as Communication Management Units-or CMUs-that are designed to severely restrict prisoner communication with family members, the media and the outside world. Dozens of Muslim men are still being held at the CMUs as well as other prisoners including environmental and animal rights activists. We speak with attorneys for two men being held there as well as a reporter covering the story.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/17/little_guantanamo_secretive_cmu_pr...
Book tells of female US soldiers raped by comrades
Washington, April 16 (Pal Telegraph)- Female U.S. soldiers joining Iraq and Afghanistan occupations have more to fear than roadside bombs or ambushes. They also are at risk of being raped or sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id...

Peres says Israel won't hit Iran's nuclear sites
President Shimon Peres rejected speculation Israel might attack Iran to stop it making nuclear weapons and said US-led diplomacy was the solution.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/peres-says-israel-wo...
--
www.TheHeadlines.org

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